Updates are coming in about the pot farm executions in rural Oklahoma and they’re taking some twisty turns. First to be revealed was the fact that all involved were Chinese nationals. The investigation is ongoing and authorities don’t have anything close to answers. They’re still trying to figure out what happened and why. Meanwhile, they have a suspect in custody. Chen Wu was arrested in Miami Beach, Florida.
Pot farm execution
On Sunday, November 20, “four people were murdered and a fifth was injured in an execution-style shooting.” It happened on a 10-acre pot farm in Kingfisher County, Oklahoma. Police have since confirmed that “three men and a woman were executed, and a fifth victim was injured.”
They aren’t yet releasing identities. The Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation relates there has been a delay in notifying next of kin because “of a significant language barrier.” The victims and their killer were all Chinese Nationals.
A fifth victim remains hospitalized in unknown condition with “multiple gunshot wounds.” According to police, “around 5:45 p.m. Sunday, a suspect entered a building at the pot farm.” At the time, “several employees were inside.”
A suspect was taken into custody after four people were "executed" at a marijuana farm in Oklahoma over the weekend, authorities said Tuesday. https://t.co/OkHwGCuNHE
— NBC News (@NBCNews) November 23, 2022
The suspect was “inside for a significant amount of time.” Eventually, the “execution-style shooting started.” Three men and one woman were pronounced dead on the scene. All they know for sure is that “this was definitely not random. This appears to be a purposeful act.” According to OSBI spokesperson Brook Arbeitman, “While I would encourage people to remain vigilant,” he qualifies, “and I can’t ever say it’s not a danger to the public, it’s definitely not random.” The call to 911 came in as a “hostage situation.”
Local residents told reporters that “armed guards were a fixture” at the pot farm. Jack Quirk, who owns the local newspaper relates that “the postal carrier was frequently met with guns.”
It’s not clear at this point if the suspect was one of the security guards. Wu Chen “was taken into custody by Miami Beach police and brought to the Miami-Dade County Detention Center. The suspect will be charged with murder and shooting with intent to kill and faces extradition to Oklahoma.” He does not yet have an attorney of record.
Held on out-of-county warrant
As explained by the local NBC affiliate in Miami, the pot farm killer suspect “remained held on an out-of-county warrant Wednesday, Miami-Dade jail records showed.”
“He made a brief appearance in bond court Wednesday morning but will have to make a second appearance once a Mandarin interpreter is found.”
Police pulled him over “after a car tag reader flagged vehicle he was driving.” As the Kingfisher County Sheriff’s office noted initially, “there’s a lot to unravel with this case. It’ll take a little time for us to process it.”
Suspect held after Chinese nationals killed at US cannabis farm https://t.co/zQyMjIZRqv
— BBC News (World) (@BBCWorld) November 23, 2022
The pot farm is licensed to operate and the first step will be digging into the paperwork. The Oklahoma Bureau of Narcotics and Dangerous Drugs Control is also investigating.
There has been a thriving black market for cannabis in the area and that particular agency has “targeted criminal growing and trafficking of marijuana for the black market in recent years.”
It’s too soon to know if this pot farm was involved in the underground trade. Under the licensing protocols, practically every leaf that blows off a plant in the wind needs to be accounted for. One of the things they’ll be looking into are whether the Chinese pot growers got their credentials “through fraud.”
